On September 15, on the last day of the auspicious month of Shravan, Islamists attacked a Lord Shiva procession in the Thasra area in the Kheda district in Gujarat. According to reports, stones were pelted from a Madarsa when the Hindu devotees were taking out the procession from the area. Several people including three policemen were injured in the incident.
Three FIRs regarding the incident have been lodged at the Thasara police station, copies of which are with OpIndia. The FIR revealed that the Muslim mob first got into an altercation with the Hindu devotees and forced the latter to stop the DJ music being played during the yatra. After that, they attacked the ‘Shivji ki Savari’ with stones and bricks when it passed the Madarsa in the area.
The FIR filed by a Hindu devotee named Vijay Parmar detailed what exactly transpired on the day of the incident. It stated that the procession of Lord Shiva takes place every year on the last day of Shravan month in Thasra. This year too, after obtaining all the necessary legal permissions the yatra started at around 11.30 am on Friday.
All legal permission required to carry out the yatra had been attained only after which the yatra was being carried out. Like every year, this year too, the procession began at the Nageshwar Mahadev Temple and was expected to return there after travelling through Baghi, Baliadeva Temple, Ramchowk, Tower Bazar, Hussaini Chowk, Holi Chakala, Tinbatti and Ashapuri Temple.
The event drew a large crowd, including women and children of all ages. According to rough estimates as many as 1,000 Hindu devotees from Thasara and adjacent villages participated in the celebration.
Two DJs were arranged for the yatra, and an adequate police force was given from Thasara police station along the entire route. The Yatra began at Nageshwar Mahadev Temple, proceeded via Balidev Temple, Ramchowk, Tower Bazar, Hussaini Chowk, Holi Chakla, and reached the Tinbatti Chowk (city square) at around 3:30 p.m.
According to the FIR, when the procession reached the Tinbatti Chowk as many as 50 people belonging to the Muslim community led by Municipality Member Mohammad Abrar Riazuddin Syed and Aspak Belim Syed approached the procession and demanded that the Hindus should stop playing the DJ since their Madarsa was close by. This resulted in a minor conflict between both parties, but the Hindus soon agreed and stopped playing the devotional songs on the DJ. Regardless, when the procession passed the Madarsa, stones and bricks were thrown from the Madarsa’s roof and nearby houses.
Stones and bricks were thrown from the roofs of the Madrasa and nearby buildings in Kheda, Gujarat
The FIR further read that as the yatra was approaching the Madarsa, Muslim men and women congregated on the roofs of the madrasa and nearby buildings and incited their fellow community members by yelling slogans such as “Stop… stop the Hindu procession. Hindus must not return alive today.” Suddenly, big stones and bricks began to rain down on the yatra.
The police officials deployed there, as well as the yatra organisers tried their best to pacify the enraged Muslim mob so that they stop the stone pelting, but they persisted, resulting in the grave injury of three Thasara police officers and several other Hindu devotees participating in the yatra.
As the situation deteriorated, a convoy of additional police officers was rushed in, seeing which the stone-pelters fled by scaling down from the roofs of the Madrasa and neighbouring buildings.
The FIR was filed against 17 identified and 50 unidentified miscreants under Sections 143, 147, 148, 149, 153A, 295A, 323, 324, 504, 505, 506(2) of IPC at Thasara Police Station. The 17 people named in the FIR are- Muhammad Abrar Riazuddin Syed, Aspak Majimmiyan Belim, Zaid Ali Muhammad Ali Syed, Atiq Malek, Ahad Syed, Haroon Pathan, Rookmuddin Riaqatali Syed, Feroze Majit Khan Pathan, Idrish, Naved, Junaid, Tanveer Syed, Faizan Syed, Foam battery, Jabir Khan Inayat Khan Pathan, Chicken, Altaf Khan Mukhtyar Khan Pathan.
Notably, in our previous report we mentioned how the yatra’s organizer, Mahant Vijaydasji, expressed his concern that the attack was pre-planned.
